WEARENOTA TOPSIDEYET
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Josip Juranovic and a superb Jota finish.
But despite keeper Joe Hart’s second-half heroics, two late concessions consigned Celtic to the Conference League play-offs.
Postecoglou couldn’t fault the effort of his troops but conceded there is a gap to be bridged between Celtic and the likes of their Bundesliga conquerors.
The boss reckons it was a big education and said: “My main thoughts are around how do we get to this level? This is where we want to be.
“How do we bridge that gap? I want us playing against the best in the best competitions. There is still a little gap there and we have to build from that.
“Can we still hold up and stand up against the best? That’s what’s important.
“We are not disappointed to be in the Conference League but we want to be competing at this level with these teams.
“I felt with all the group games we slowly became a better side at dealing with the best in this competition.
“We came here to test ourselves, to find out where we are at. And I think we did.
“It was a tough challenge. They are very good and we’re playing away from home.
“We really hung in there, our players showed great determination and resilience to keep working hard and try not to get away from the way we wanted to play.
“We gave ourselves a chance of pulling off a result but ultimately we couldn’t handle it at the end.
“It’s definitely disappointing for my players. But at the same time it’s a great learning tool for us in our development.
“We know we’re not at this level yet. There’s still a gap between us and them and that’s what we need to bridge.
“But we came here and we were determined to take it to a good opponent and I thought we did that.”
Celtic just didn’t have the strength in depth to see it through.
Star men such as Jota and Kyogo Furuhashi were replaced by that stage with midfielder Nir Bitton also off with an injury.
Postecoglou hoped his subs could help see it through but it didn’t happen and he said: “It wasn’t so much that it went wrong. Obviously they were coming at us and they have some real quality in their team.
“I just felt that we lost a little bit of our composure at the end and maybe there was some tiredness.
“Guys coming on didn’t have the impact we wanted because we had some opportunities to create something ourselves and our decision making wasn’t great. We allowed the pressure to build up.
“They are a good team and if you keep giving them opportunities they are going to take them.
“The front three worked really hard. I felt we needed some extra energy particularly in the wide areas and we had two players on the bench to do that. I felt it was a good time to make the subs.
“We just needed to be more composed. Joe made some unbelievable saves. We were resilient but they got the better of us.”
Celtic, who are set for another UEFA fine after fans lit flares in the BayArena, will face a two-legged Conference play-off in February.
Postecoglou said: “It will maybe give us a chance to play in different conditions against good teams.”